Shift mechanism



Oct.20, 1959 B. F. MADSEN SHIFT MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 3,1956 INVENTOR BERTHEL F. MADSEN avg? ff ATTORNEY Oct. 20, 1959 B. F.MADSEN SHIFT MECHANISM Filed July a, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORBERTHEL F. MADSEN BYZZ ZZLW FIG.

ATTORNEY snn r MECHANISM Berthel F. Madsen, Arlington Heights, 11].,assignor to Teletype Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation ofDelaware Application July 3, 1956, Serial No. 595,757

4 Claims. (Cl. 178-40) This invention pertains to printingtelegraphapparatus and more particularly to improvements in shiftingdevices therefor. v

. One object of thi invention is to provide a printing telegraph pageprinter which will not require manual shift and unshift operation.

Another object of this invention is to provide a printing telegraphapparatuswhich will perform the shiftunshift operation during the normalcharacter printing cycle to thereby appreciably cut down the amount ofline time'required to transmit a message which contains a mixture ofletters and figures characters. j

Still another object of the present invention is to enable the provisionof a keyboard for a telegraph printer wherein each character isrepresented by a key.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sixth pulse shiftmechanism for a telegraph printer having a movable type carriage whichis operable without any preshift movement of the type carriage andwithout increasing the velocity of the type carriage.

It is a further object of the present invention to pr vide a shiftmechanism for a telegraph printer which is operable to actuate aselected function through its code bar in addition to performing itsshift operation.

The printing telegraph apparatus to which the present invention isapplicable is disclosed in the United States Patent No. 2,505,729,issuedApril 25, 1950, to W. I. Zenner, which patent is incorporated herein byreference.

According to the above-mentioned patent the type carrier is dividedhorizontally into four sections; Each sec tion is comprised of sixteencharacters disposed in four vertical rows. The two left-hand sectionscontain the unshift or lower case characters while the two right-handsections are made up of the shift or upper case characters. It isapparent from the foregoing description that when the center linebetween the two left-hand sections is positioned to coincide with thecenter line of the print hammer, the type carrier or box is in thenormal unshift position and similarly when the center line between thetwo right-hand sections is so positioned, the type'carrier is in itsnormal shift position. .The positioning of the type carrier is thuscarried out by moving the carrier right or left from that center line orprinting position in either the shift or unshift position. a

While the present invention refers to a six unit code, the charactersare selectable as in the Zenner patent by the standard unit code whilethe sixth or ultra code unit determines whether the character is inupper or lower case depending upon whether the ultra code unit ismarking or spacing.

The apparatus disclosed in the afore-mentioned Zenner patent provides 32selections with the standard fiveunit code. The case shifting mechanism,of course, doubles this number of selections.

In the past, the case shift was operated through the selection unit ofthe apparatus in response to a permuta tion of signals which was sentprior .to the character intended for upper case. Return to the lowercase then necessitated a second signal to return the type carrier to itslower case position. In the present invention the shift to upper case isaccomplished for each. upper case character and the type carriagepositioning mechanism returns after each printing cycle into position toreturn the carriage to the lower case printing position in the eventthat the subsequent character combination does not contain a markingindicium in the sixth pulse position. The shifting mechanism iscontrolled by pulse added to the permutative code.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to thefollowing description when considered; in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a partial front elevational view of the telegraph printercomparable to Fig. 6 of United States Patent No. 2,505,729, showing typecarrier shift mechanism according to the presentinvention;

Fig. 2 is a view taken substantially on line 2-2 of? Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the selec-v tive controlunit; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmental elevationl view of the code bars of the printer.

Referring now to Fig. la saddle member 12 is slidably mounted on achannel bar 13 and is clamped to a cable 14 so as to be moved by thecable 14 in the manner de-' scribed in the afore-mentioned Zennerpatent. The channel bar 13 is pivotally fastened at each end to thecable spool supports 17 and 18 which are pivotally mounted on the frameof the printer. A print hammer 3 assembly (not shown) is similarlyarranged to be moved by a second cable assembly (not shown).

A bracket 16 is fixed at one end to the channel bar'13 and pivotallyattached at the other end to a pivot point 19 on a link 21 of a toggle22. A second link 23 of the toggle 22 is pivotally attached to the link21 by a pin 24 at one end and is pivotally attached to the selectorframe 25 by a pin'26. A second toggle 27 is similarly attached to theright end (Fig. 1) of the slide bar 13.

A bell crank 28 having three extensions is pivotally mounted on theframe by a pin 29. A breaker slide arm 31 is articulated to the leftextension (Fig. l) of the bell crank 28 and slidably positioned belowthe toggle 22 by means of a pin 32 in cooperation with an elongatedaperture 33 in the breaker slide lever 31. The breaker slide lever 31 isso positioned as to be movable upward again a cam projection 34 on thetoggle 22 in response to the clockwise (Fig. 1) rotation of the bellcrank 28; A second breaker slide arm 36 is similarly mounted on theright-hand extension of the bell crank and is positioned to be movedupward against a cam projection 40 on the toggle 27 by counterclockwise(Fig. 1)' rotation of the bell crank 28.

A center extension 37 of the bell crank 28 is articulated to one end ofan actuating bar 38. The opposite end of the bar 38 is articulated to anextension 39 of a driving bell crank 41. Two impelling levers 42 and 43are articulated to the bell crank 41 so as to selectively rotate thebell crank in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction in response tothe upward movement of an extension 44 on a T-lever 46. A bifurcatedpower lever 47 (shown most clearly in Figs. 2 and 3) is pivotallymounted at a pivot point 48 and has a cam roller 49 on one end there'-of. The cam roller 49 is cooperable with a cyclically operated cam 51 toimpart rocking motion to the power lever 47 to impart verticalreciprocal motion to the T-lever 46 in cooperation with return springs52 on the T-lever 46.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the impelling levers 42 and 43 are insertedin a channel in a positioning strap or slide bar 53 so as to beselectively positioned above the projection 44 of the T lever 46. Aselecting bell Patented Oct. 20,- 1959 V x hcrank 54 (Fig. 2) ispivotally mounted in the frame and has its middle extension 56 connectedto the positioning strap 53 through a spring 55 so as to impartrightward (Fig. 2) horizontal motion to the strap 53 uponcounterclockwise rotation'of the bell crank 56. A vertical ex-. tension57 of the bell crank 54 is positioned to impart leftwardhorizontalmotion to the strap 53 upon clockwise rotation of the bellcrank 54.

' Referring once more to Fig. 3, a selector lever 58 of the type wellknown in the art is positioned to be rotated clockwise to permit a pushbar 59 to be engaged therewith and to subsequently move the push bar 59to the left. The operation of the selector mechanism is completelydescribed in Zenner Patent No. 2,595,745, issued May 6, 1952, whichpatent is made a part hereof by reference.

A selector interponcnt 61 is positioned to be rotated counterclockwiseby the leftward (Fig. 3) horizontal movement of the push bar 59 torotate the bell crank 54 counterclockwise (Fig. 2) by its cooperationwith a horizontal extension 62 on the bell crank 54. Rotation of theinterponent 61 also rotates a code bar selecting lever 63 to position acode bar 64 to control the performance of a designated function, forexample, the positioning of the type carrier 11 under the control oflinks 72 and 74, and anticipators or buifers 71 and 73, respectively, asis described in the aforementioned Zenner patent. The selector lever 58is the sixth pulse lever and is selected in each selector cycle whichhas the sixth or ultra code pulse present to activate the shiftmechanism.

Fig. 4 shows the auxiliary selection whereby the code bar 64 is put intothe path of the scissors type operator 66 to be operated in the mannerwhich is fully described in said Patent No. 2,595,745, to activate apredetermined function, such as a bell, to indicate the presence of theshift.

In operation, the type carrier 11 is normally in the lower case printingposition (shown in upper case in Fig. 1). Upon receipt of an upper casecharacter by the selector mechanism, the shift push bar 59 is selectedin addition to the character code selection. Selection of the push bar59 causes it to be moved leftward by its selector cam (not shown) incooperation with the lever 58 to rotate the selector interponent 61counterclockwise (Fig. 3) to engage the horizontal extension 62 of thebell crank 54 and rotate the bell crank 54 counterclockwise (Fig. 2).The counterclockwise rota tion of the bell crank 54 moves its extensions56 and 57 in a generally rightward direction (Fig. 2) to thereby movethe positioning strap 53 in a rightward direction to rotate theirnpelling levers 42 and 43 counterclockwise (Fig. 1) about their pivotsso that the shoulder 50 of the lever 42 is positioned above theprojection 44 on the T-lever 46. As the high part of the cam 51 urgesthe cam follower 49 down, the bifurcated portion of the power lever 47moves upward to move the T-lever 46 upward to engage the projection 44with the selected irnpelling lever 42 or 43. When the sixth .or shiftcode unit is marking, the lever 42 is selected, as stated above, and ismoved from its dotted line position in Fig. l to the solid lineposition, thereby rotating the bell crank 41 to its solid line position,and rotating the bell crank 28 counterclockwise from its dotted lineposition to its solid line position to move breaker slide arm 36 upwardto break the toggle 27. Since the toggles 27 and 22 are fixed to the.slide bar 13, the toggle 22 must straighten out when the toggle 27collapses or breaks and viceversa. The slide bar 13 is moved to the left(Fig. l) by the breaking of the toggle '27 and the type carriage 11 ismoved therewith to place it in its upper case position. The leftwardpositioning of the slide bar 13 is accomplished by the rotation of thecable spool supports 17 and 18 counterclockwise about their pivots tothe position shown in Fig. 1. During the above-described shift operationthe conventional positioning of the type box is also taking place inresponse to the first five units of the code as in fully set forth inthe afore-mentioned Zenner Patent No. 2,505,729.

After the selected character has been printed and the subsequentprinting cycle has begun, the push bar 59 is stripped ofi of the lever58 in the usual manner which is well known in the art so that the levers61 and 63 are returned to their unoperated position by a mutual spring65 thereby returning the irnpelling levers 42 and 43 to the positionshown in solid lines in Fig. 1 so that the lever 43 will be moved upwardby the T-lever 46 on the subsequent printing cycle unless, of course,the subsequent character is an upper case character in which case theimpeller lever 43 will move out of the path of the T-lever 46 and thelever 42 is moved to the right so the lever 46 will not contact anythingand the bell crank 41 will remain in the solid line position shown inFig. 1.

While the present invention has been shown in a specific embodiment itis, of course, understood that the subject invention may be used inother embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of thisinvention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a telegraph recorder, a type carrier, a positioning meanscomprising instrumentalities for selectively positioning said typecarrier in a plurality of positions relative to a first and a secondhome position, a first selector means for controlling saidinstrumentalities in accordance with a permutation of a multiple unitcode, a first toggle means for motivating said carriage to said firsthome position, a second toggle means for motivating said carriage .tosaid second home position, facilities operable alternatively on saidfirst and second toggle means, rockable means including selectivelypositionable elements for controlling the operation of said facilities,actuating means, and a second selector means responsive to an ultra codeunit of said multiple unit code for selectively conditioning saidselectively positionable elements for actuation by said actuating means,whereby the operativeness of said rockable means on said facilities isdetermined.

2. In a telegraph recorder, a type carrier, a positioning meanscomprising instrumentalities for selectively positioning said typecarrier in a plurality of positions relative to a first and a secondhome position, a first selector means for controlling saidinstrumentalities in accordance with a permutation of a multiple unitcode, a first toggle means for motivating said carriage to said firsthome position, a second toggle means for motivating said carriage tosaid second home position, a pair of impellers each effective to actuateone of said toggle means, power means effective to motivate saidimpellers, and means controlled by an ultra code unit of said multipleunit code to selectively condition either of said impellers foractuation by said power means.

3. In combination in a shift means for a telegraph recorder having atype carriage wherein a plurality of character elements are arranged inupper and lower case groups, positioning means comprisinginstrumentalities for selectively positioning said type carrier in aplurality of positions relative to an upper case and a lower caseposition, permutation means for controlling said instrumentalities inaccordance with a permutation of a multiple unit code for selecting acharacter element in each of said case groups, a first toggle shiftmeans for positioning said carriage in a lower case position, a secondtoggle shift means for positioning said carriage in an upper caseposition, a common actuating means for both of said toggle shiftmeans, apair of interponents each cooperably related to one of said toggle shiftmeans, and means controlled by an ultra code unit of said multiple unitcode for selectively rendering one of said interponents operable by saidcommon actuating means.

4. In combination in a case shiftmechanism for a telegraph .3991???having a movable type carriage wherein a plurality of character elementsare arranged in upper and lower case groups, positioning meanscomprising instrumeans for motivating said impellers, a slide bararticulated to said impellers for selectively moving one or the other ofsaid impellers into the path of said power means, and means controlledby an ultra code unit of said multiple unitcode for positioning saidslide bar, whereby the selective actuation of said impellers by saidpower means is effectuated.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,505,729 Zenner Apr. 25, 1950

